Residual levels and identify possible sources of organochlorine pesticides in Korea atmosphere

The nationwide monitoring program was established in 2008 to monitor of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Korea. Under this program, it was observed air concentrations of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) at 37 sites from January to October of 2008, to determine the residue levels and identify possible sources in Korea atmosphere. Samples of OCPs including HCB, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, p,p′-DDT, o,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDE, o,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD, o,p′-DDD, trans-chlordane, cis-chlordane, trans-nonachlor, cis-nonachlor, oxychlordane, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide were collected with high volume air sampler and analyzed by HRGC/HRMS. The concentrations were in the range of 41.2–344.3 pg m−3 for HCB, ND–47.55 pg m−3 for DDTs (sum of p,p′-DDT, o,p′-DDT, p,p′-DDE, o,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDD, o,p′-DDD), ND–38.97 pg m−3 for chlordanes (sum of trans-chlordane, cis-chlordane, trans-nonachlor, cis-nonachlor, oxychlordane), ND–9.19 pg m−3 for heptachlors (sum of heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide) and ND–4.32 pg m−3 for dieldrin. The predominant compound in air was HCB. However, HCB itself has not ever been registered and used as a pesticide in Korea. The elevated concentration of HCB in Korea might be contributed to geographical location and long range transport. For DDTs, it was found that no more fresh input occurred recently and technical type DDTs was prevailing in Korea. Higher concentration of chlordane was observed in winter, which was contributed to the fresh input technical chlordane and long range transport. Relatively lower levels of heptachlor and dieldrin despite much more consumption than other pesticides were resulted from shorter half-lives in environment.